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I am in the process of buying a GTS (manual!) from a local dealer. The car has zero overrevs in any range, which tells me it has not been driven hard. With that said, it has the "standard" suspension, not sport, and I would like to improve the look (stock rides high) and handling. I have about $3k to spend, and a GTS deserves a suspension upgrade. What are some options?
1) springs
2) DSC controller
3) B16 (damptronic) or B12 kit (losing PASM functionality). B16 may be over my price range once install is included. Ohlins R&T?
4) springs, DSC, and rollbars?
I drive primarily on the street, but don't want the 4x4 look of the stock PASM. I had eibachs on a former car and they were great; they didn't improve handling, but certainly looked good.
I only want to do this once, as labor is going to be $550 or so. I would like to have a "sporty DD setup" which is how I intend to use the car primarily.
I am in the process of buying a GTS (manual!) from a local dealer. The car has zero overrevs in any range, which tells me it has not been driven hard. With that said, it has the "standard" suspension, not sport, and I would like to improve the look (stock rides high) and handling. I have about $3k to spend, and a GTS deserves a suspension upgrade. What are some options?
1) springs
2) DSC controller
3) B16 (damptronic) or B12 kit (losing PASM functionality). B16 may be over my price range once install is included. Ohlins R&T?
4) springs, DSC, and rollbars?
I drive primarily on the street, but don't want the 4x4 look of the stock PASM. I had eibachs on a former car and they were great; they didn't improve handling, but certainly looked good.
I only want to do this once, as labor is going to be $550 or so. I would like to have a "sporty DD setup" which is how I intend to use the car primarily.
Sounds like part of your mission is to improve the look/stance and assuming your GTS has centerlock wheels like most do you'll have to look at wheels too since you can't add spacers to CL wheels. Just lowering it with stock wheels will tuck the wheels further into the well and you may not be happy with the result. Only solution is after market wheels with custom offsets.
Other than a Porsche short shift kit and sharkwerks center muffler bypass, I didn't touch my 2012 GTS since it was still under CPO. Now that that period has expired, I may consider a few mods. To be honest though, I feel the car is damn well near perfect as is.
nwGTS did a good job upgrading the heck out of his GTS and he did a thorough job documenting it. Bet you'll find this link useful:
Sounds like part of your mission is to improve the look/stance and assuming your GTS has centerlock wheels like most do you'll have to look at wheels too since you can't add spacers to CL wheels. Just lowering it with stock wheels will tuck the wheels further into the well and you may not be happy with the result. Only solution is after market wheels with custom offsets.
Agreed. If OP has stock centerlocks then lowering the car is just going to magnify the already unsightly lack of proper offset. Not an issue if you have a GTS with 5 lug. If it were me, I'd end up waiting to do the lowering until I had some wheels that'll look correct in consideration of 'more low'.
Sounds like part of your mission is to improve the look/stance and assuming your GTS has centerlock wheels like most do you'll have to look at wheels too since you can't add spacers to CL wheels. Just lowering it with stock wheels will tuck the wheels further into the well and you may not be happy with the result. Only solution is after market wheels with custom offsets.
The other solution is to go with OEM 997.2 GT3 front/GT3 RS rear wheels which will correct the offset issue inherent with the stock RS Spyder wheels. In any case, new wheels will definitely be a budget buster. H&R springs offer a nice improvement in both ride height and handling characteristics in standard PASM cars.
Sounds like part of your mission is to improve the look/stance and assuming your GTS has centerlock wheels like most do you'll have to look at wheels too since you can't add spacers to CL wheels. Just lowering it with stock wheels will tuck the wheels further into the well and you may not be happy with the result. Only solution is after market wheels with custom offsets.
is that how it looks with the sport suspension option? Or do those people get a different wheel or wider wheel track?
The other solution is to go with OEM 997.2 GT3 front/GT3 RS rear wheels which will correct the offset issue inherent with the stock RS Spyder wheels. In any case, new wheels will definitely be a budget buster. H&R springs offer a nice improvement in both ride height and handling characteristics in standard PASM cars.
is that how it looks with the sport suspension option? Or do those people get a different wheel or wider wheel track?
Not sure what you refer to with how "that" looks like. Bottom line is that the offsets on the GTS are pretty "weak" from the factory if you will. Far from flush and again, just lowering it will make that even worse. If you have a rare GTS 5-lug car then you're in luck and can fix it inexpensively with spacers. If you have CL wheels though your only option to bring the wheels flush with the fenders is a set of after market wheels with offsets to your specifications or possibly as someone suggested a set of GT3RS wheels.
The stock GTS RS Spyders offsets are 56 front/51 rear. GT3 (narrow body) front wheels are 53 and GT3 RS (wide body) rear are 48. I also increased rear tire size to 245/35-19 in front and 325/30-19 to better fill out the wheel wells.
Not sure what you refer to with how "that" looks like. Bottom line is that the offsets on the GTS are pretty "weak" from the factory if you will. Far from flush and again, just lowering it will make that even worse. If you have a rare GTS 5-lug car then you're in luck and can fix it inexpensively with spacers. If you have CL wheels though your only option to bring the wheels flush with the fenders is a set of after market wheels with offsets to your specifications or possibly as someone suggested a set of GT3RS wheels.
Wheels are CL on this car.
My question: if the car has "sport suspension" vs "standard PASM with lowering springs"; what is the visual difference, if anything? Does everyone who has sport suspension have the same issue with lack of offset, or do their cars get special offset treatment from the factory?
The car isn't going to look so weird with the weak offsets that you have to do something right away. You could sort the suspension first and do the wheels later. RS Spyder centerlocks look oddly too far inboard whether stock ride height or lowered on GTS, in my view. All the RS Spyder wheels fitted to 997 GTS have the same dimensions including offset, to my knowledge. I was so stoked on getting the car once I finally got it that I didn't get too worried about the wheels for a couple months. You might find the same.
My question: if the car has "sport suspension" vs "standard PASM with lowering springs"; what is the visual difference, if anything? Does everyone who has sport suspension have the same issue with lack of offset, or do their cars get special offset treatment from the factory?
Same wheel offset with either suspension. For your reference, my Forgeline offsets are 50 up front and 46 for the rears. That front offset is just about perfect. Flush or maybe even a hair beyond flush. 46 for the rears is flush but I wouldn't hesitate to go as low as 44. Again, the lower you go go on the suspension the more tucked in the wheels will look. With CL wheels you'll have to get after market wheels with customized offsets to get the look/stance of the car you seem to have in mind.
Same wheel offset with either suspension. For your reference, my Forgeline offsets are 50 up front and 46 for the rears. That front offset is just about perfect. Flush or maybe even a hair beyond flush. 46 for the rears is flush but I wouldn't hesitate to go as low as 44. Again, the lower you go go on the suspension the more tucked in the wheels will look. With CL wheels you'll have to get after market wheels with customized offsets to get the look/stance of the car you seem to have in mind.
Hmmm; what about the OZ Ultraleggera HLT? 53/46 would work on a somewhat reasonable budget? I see what you are talking about now, after looking at various cars. The wheels do need more offset.
05-23-2018, 03:05 AM
GTS: standard suspension upgrade for $3k budget
